Happy Friday everyone. I spent yesterday at Future of Finance in New York, a one-day event where Fortune brought together big names from traditional finance like BlackRock and Apollo, and newer players like PayPal and Robinhood. At the day's crypto panel—which featured Coinbase, Grayscale, and Ripple—I was struck by how much the companies' executives came across as part of the finance industry rather than, as has been the case in years past, fringe challengers. The most remarkable moment when it came to crypto, however, was our dinner keynote featuring Andrew Yang and Anthony "the Mooch" Scaramucci.
Both men have walked in the highest corridors of U.S. political power. Yang was a major candidate in the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate primary, while Scaramucci served a brief but memorable stint in the White House as Donald Trump's communications director. Since then, both have become strong proponents of crypto. Yang shared his quirky but compelling vision that entails using blockchain as part of a larger time-bank system that would compensate Americans for a wide variety of labor such as childcare that is currently unpaid—a system he says will become essential at a time when AI is poised to eliminate millions of jobs.
Scaramucci, who is a crypto investor via his hedge fund, made the political case for blockchain, noting that tens of millions of Americans already own it. He added that President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders’ current stance makes little sense because, while the number of people who would vote on the basis of crypto is relatively small, those are still votes the party could pick up compared to a hard-line anti-crypto position that earns them no new votes at all.
Their comments came at a time when a growing number of Democrats are feeling the same way. On Friday, 11 senators bucked their party's official position to join Republicans in passing a bill to overturn SEC accounting guidelines that make it unviable for banks to hold crypto. Among them were Majority Leader Charles Schumer and his fellow New York senator and Wall Street ally Kirsten Gillibrand.
Biden has signaled he would veto the bill but, given how the tide is turning even within his own party—not to mention poll numbers suggesting he is on track to lose the election—it would not be surprising if he changed course. In recent months, it feels like crypto has hit a tipping point in the U.S. and that efforts by the White House and their progressive allies to crush it outright are doomed to fail. When times change, the smart move for elected officials is usually to change with them.
Jeff John Roberts
jeff.roberts@fortune.com
@jeffjohnroberts
